A Mid-Michigan animal shelter is back open after a recent scare with a contagious disease, but now there's fewer dogs inside.

Several dogs were euthanized Monday after the Saginaw County Animal Shelter closed due to a parvo outbreak.

"I was very disgusted. I felt it was very unnecessary," said John Griesmayer, dog lover.

He was upset when he learned the shelter put down seven dogs.

Officials said the dogs were euthanized because they had behavioral issues and could not be adopted out.

"I couldn't understand why in six months, most of these dogs have been in there six months, why in six months all of a sudden they had to be put down because of all of a sudden they got vicious overnight to staff and the volunteers. It just didn't make any sense to me," Griesmayer said.

Robert Belleman, director of animal control, said the dogs were really aggressive towards other animals and the staff.

He said some of the dogs were good candidates for adoption at first, but months in a 4' by 3' cage took a toll on them. He said they became unfit for a home, leaving Belleman with no other options.

"We believe it's more cruel to keep them than to put them to sleep. Because in that environment, it is not an environment conducive to a quality of life," Belleman said.

Belleman also said he tries to get all of the animals adopted from the time they enter his facility.

"A lot of the concerns come at the time when we put an animal to sleep, but nobody showed concerns while they were available, while they were adoptable dogs," Belleman said.

As for Griesmayer, he believes a lot more adoptions would happen if more people knew there are animals that need a home.

"They do nothing to promote the adoptions. They don't have bark on the bricks. All they do is stay open an extra two hours on Wednesday night during the week to try and get somebody to come in and adopt. They don't advertise anything," Griesmayer said.